| Term: | Warm-hot intergalactic medium |
| Definition: |
The space containing a cluster of galaxies filled with a tenuous gas of temperature 105 to 107 K and density 10-6 to 10-4 cm-3. WHIM has been continuously shock-heated during the process of structure formation. It is so highly ionized that it can only absorb or emit far-ultraviolet and soft X-ray photons, primarily at spectral lines of highly ionized C, O, Ne, and Fe. WHIM is thought to be the main reservoir of missing baryons. |